Real ways to make money online

Are you looking for real ways to make money online?

You probably searched for a ton of articles to only find spammy websites that ask you to sign up for some shady seminars. They usually tell you that they can transform you into a millionaire overnight.

Before we get started, let’s get one thing straight: there is NO such thing as easy money! But there are many legitimate ways to make money online; they just aren’t the “get rich quick schemes” that we hear of all the time.

Now that’s out of the way, you probably face another problem.

I know, you need money and you are probably sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck. It sucks that most people don’t make enough to cover their bills, credit card debt, and student loans.

The good news, though, is that you can increase your income by making extra money on the side! You can make money from home or anywhere you wish as long as you have a laptop or mobile device with you!

Is it possible to make money online?

Honestly, for many years, I had no idea that people could make money online. As a broke college student back in the day, I always thought the only way to make money was through a traditional 9-5 job, or a part-time job as a Barista at Starbucks. You know, something along those lines…

One day, I decided to randomly search for ways to make money on Google such as, “How to make money online” or “How to earn money from Google at home.” As a result, I saw about 204,000,000 searches out there. I thought, ah… this must be a common problem that most people are having (including myself). That said, I worked my butt off to put together this information just for you. I’ve even tested and done most of them myself when I was researching about this outside of my day job.

Whether you have a full-time job, part-time job, or no job, there are many ways real ways to make money from home and online.

Here are 8 legitimate ways you can start earning money online! For the most part, they are either free ways to make money or an extremely low-cost to get started. My personal favorite is #4. 🙂

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more information.

1. Get paid to surf the web!

Want a fun side hustle to make a little extra?

You can make money online surfing the web with Swagbucks. It’s just like how you search for things on Google. The only difference is you’re using their browser to search. In addition to searching the web, you can redeem FREE gift cards or earn PayPal money by watching videos, playing games, shopping online, and answering some survey questions. These are just mindless and easy tasks that you normally do every day. Again, this is not a way to get rich quick, rather it’s really just icing on the cake! Plus, it’s easy to use. 🙂

I personally use Swagbucks and I always write about them on my blog because they are one of my personal favorite cash and rewards programs! I’ve been a member of Swagbucks since 2009 so I recommend them to my readers!

They are 100% legitimate and have paid out their members over $288,312,447 to date!

2. Sign up for the best paid survey sites online.

You can make money today by doing some online surveys. One of my favorite survey sites that actually pay is Survey Junkie.

I’ll admit though, you won’t become the next Bill Gates by doing surveys. Not even close! But they are tried and true ways to earn money online for free. They are also easy to do while binge-watching your favorite TV shows on Netflix! Even I still pull out my phone to do surveys in the passenger seat while my fiance drives his car!

Why take online surveys? What’s in it for you?

All top companies want to understand their consumers so that they can create the perfect products and services for you. For them to do that, they need to understand YOU and what YOU want. That’s why they are willing to pay you in CASH or FREE gift cards in exchange for your inputs. It’s one of the easiest and quickest ways to make extra money online with no experience required.

How much money can you make with survey sites?

Anywhere from $50 to $200 (or more) per month depending on your eligibility and the number of surveys you complete.

I know a lot of you are asking what are some survey sites that actually pay. Like you, I’ve personally tried A LOT of crappy survey sites where I would never qualify for any surveys! 🙁

Having that said, I only recommend survey sites that have worked the best for me and most users!

Survey Junkie:

This survey site is 100% legitimate and non-spammy so I recommend signing up for it. It’s FREE and easy to use. They only require your e-mail and a password so it literally takes less than 5 seconds to start earning.

I like how I’m qualified for at least 1-2 surveys almost every day. This makes it easy for me to make money online and get paid through PayPal or FREE gift cards — you need to have a minimum of $10 in your account to get paid. I’ve personally earned over $50 in a month with them.

Survey Junkie also has a rating of 8.7/10, one of the highest on TrustPilot reviews. I love them the most for their pretty-looking interface so it makes it easy for me to navigate around. Over 5,000,000 users (including myself) have a great experience with them. I hope you like them just as much as I do!

Other survey sites and money hacks: If you’re interested in signing up for other survey sites for extra money or FREE gift cards, I recommend visiting my post, How To Earn CASH and FREE Gift Cards Online. In addition to introducing some of the best paid survey sites, I cover other hacks on how you can get FREE gift cards and FREE cash.

3. Make money online by selling on Amazon.

Do you love the idea of shopping at the clearance racks and reselling those items on Amazon for a profit?

Does it sound far-fetched to turn this hobby of yours into a profitable online business?

Well, Jessica from The Selling Family is here to prove that everyday people like you can achieve this!

4. Start a blog that makes money.

I always mention this but I’ll mention it again: If you asked me over a year ago, I had no idea that blogs could make money!

I used to make money with Google Adsense and got paid $50 to $100 per month. Now, my blog makes about $1,000 every month alone from display advertising. Aside from ads, I also rely on affiliate marketing to generate passive income, which I talk about in my next point.

You too can start a blog for cheap with my easy step-by-step tutorial here. You can start a blog at a discounted price for only $2.95 a month (that’s over 60% off). Plus, get a FREE domain name ($15 value) when you sign up through my tutorial.

This low price is exclusive to Finsavvy Panda readers. If you’re interested and would like to learn more, feel free to visit my tutorial.

This may not be a free way to make money online, but it is extremely cheap to get started! This definitely beats other traditional business models — I don’t know where else you can start a business for this low. To be honest, starting this blog was one of the best investments I’ve made this year!

How I Make Money Online by Blogging:

If you’re interested, you can also check out my very honest blog income reports where I log my blogging journey to show others that making money online with a blog is possible! What I learned over the year is that you don’t need to be the best writer nor an expert in what you blog about!

Gina was able to make $4,000 per month part-time while being a mom with a full-time job! There’s definitely a ton you can learn from her and she’ll show you how!

6. Make money from affiliate marketing.

What is affiliate marketing?

If you don’t know, affiliate marketing is just referring products that you love and/or believe will add value to your audience. After they make a purchase, you earn an income. In other words, you can earn money online by providing value and solving your readers’ problems. One of my favorite ways to make money with affiliate marketing is through my blog!

My personal experience with affiliate marketing.

I became really interested in affiliate marketing when I learned that Michelle from Making Sense of Cents consistently earns over $100,000 every MONTH from her blog. So, I decided to sign up for Michelle’s e-Course, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to make any money at first.

However, even as a new blogger WITH VERY LITTLE TRAFFIC, I was still able to make money online by implementing a few of Michelle’s strategies near the end of March 2018. Within a month, I earned more than what I spent on her course!

For example, I earned over $400 USD within the month after implementing Michelle’s strategies and I really regret not taking her course sooner. My personal story doesn’t sound as sexy as others’ who have earned over $10,000 every month after taking Michelle’s course. But it is a start and I’m happy that I’m making progress. 🙂

Update: I made over $1,500 alone in affiliate marketing during August 2018. And in September 2018, I increased that to over $2,000 USD!

With that said, if you’re serious about making money from affiliate marketing, I highly recommend taking Michelle’s course!

She also says you don’t need explosive traffic nor a ton of posts to start earning passive income with affiliate marketing. Even if you are a new blogger with ONE EPIC BLOG POST, you are ready to start making money with affiliate marketing!

Dollar Dig:

This is a relatively newer cashback website that is available in the US and Canada. This program is very similar to Ebates where they offer cash back rebates at over 3,250 stores, along with coupons and deals.

8. Sell your stuff online.

In the past, we’ve made money online from selling the stuff we don’t use anymore. We don’t own a lot of stuff, but we still managed to earn $4,000 from our unwanted stuff. So, I’m sure everyone has something they can sell online to make some extra cash. Plus, it’s a creative way to make money fast! 🙂

Aside from the money, many studies show that decluttering and organizing your place will increase your productivity, decrease stress, and allow you to do more. According to this article from USA Today, cleaning brings wealth and health.

“Tidying up not only makes your environment more organized — it can improve mental health and help you make better money decisions, financial experts say.”

Here are a few online platforms I recommend using when posting your stuff to sell. You can also download my free checklist here to see what you can sell online for some extra cash today!

9. Sell your unwanted electronics through Gazelle:

Do you have an old Apple and/or Android device lying around? Not using that iPod or iPhone 5 anymore?

Well, the great news is you can sell your old electronics through Gazelle and get cash back. Who knows, you might have hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of old electronics that you’re not aware of. 😉

Over to you!

If you want to make money online fast and for FREE, your best bet is to sign up for the best paid survey sites. You can make money online and get paid through PayPal or redeem FREE gift cards.

But, if you want more than just the quick and small wins, you can consider starting a blog through my easy step-by-step tutorial and implement these winning affiliate marketing strategies along the way. It will take some time and effort to build a blog but personally for me, it was worth every second of my life! Remember, there is NO such thing as making money the easy way!

I hope you found this post helpful. Have you tried other ways to make money online?

15 Comments

I think it’s important to keep in mind with the cashback sites such as eBates, your more saving money (i.e. spending less) than making money. Well, other than those sweet, sweet, referral bonuses.

Another way to make money online is to sell designs – most commonly this is the form of t-shirts. I do quite well with Amazon’s t-shirt program, but make pennies on other ones. There’s also sites, such as Shutterstock, where you can sell photos.

And yes, selling T-shirts online is pretty cool. I’d like to get into that myself if I ever have time! I’ve heard a lot of great things about Shutterstock! Unfortunately, I’m not great at taking pics 🙁

Thanks for the post. Very informative. But what to do to those who do not understand the creation of sites and generally a complete zero in the marketing. For example, I also searched for a very long time to earn money. But what if money is needed right now. I accidentally bought this course and thought that I was wasting money again. But at last I was wrong!! And now I earn from $ 500 a day and plan my trip around the world, this is my dream since childhood.

Hey thanks for the Inbox Dollars link Panda. I just signed up for it and got my $5! Gonna do some surveys on there and maybe watch a few videos to get to some extra money! I just started with my affiliated marketing on my blog and hopefully it turns to be a good profit.

So much good stuff here! I loooove Swagbucks! Nothing like redeeming those points for gift cards. I’ve found that one of the easiest ways to earn points is by linking your credit card to Swagbucks that way when you go to local restaurants that participate in the Swagbucks program, you rack up at least 54 points for a meal in the $10-range. Sweet right?

After reading your post, I’m heading to Pinecone Research!! I didn’t know about them! Oh, and thanks for the checklist of stuff we can sell online. I keep on forgetting to do this, and I do have a bunch of stuff I could sell. I’ve already done the decluttering part (they’re all now sitting in a closet) and you’re right, my stress decreased instantly. 🙂

I’ve never heard of “Panda Research” but I trust all Pandas! And so I should try that asap!

As a co-blogger, it is so hard to get your affiliate marketing game to take off! I then start wondering, “If I spent as much time taking online surveys…as I do everything for blogging…would I be rich?!” (In Asian Professor accent)

Thank you for sharing these great tips my favorite Panda! Have a great day and awesome weekend!

I used to take surveys more often compared to now. I still do it here and there but I need to focus my time on the blog. But my fiance still does them and more often than me haha.

I’d say that doing surveys is “quicker” to get some money here and there. But with starting a blog, it takes a lot of time. Again, I always hear that blogging is a long-term game and I’m starting to see what people mean by that.

Hello dear, I am very glad to read your article. I try to read different types of digital marketing related article always. Today I am surfing to read about how to make money online and I found your one. I got some new idea from your content. I think it will help me a lot. Thank you so much for your awesome article. Keep covering this type of valuable content more.

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About Finsavvy Panda

Welcome to Finsavvy Panda!I love everything about saving, investing, earning, and building net worth. I managed to save my first $100,000 in my 20s. I’m all for flexibility and balance, so I’d love ❤ to help you do all of this WITHOUT telling you to cut back on your favorite Starbucks drinks!

I also started this blog as a side hobby to make extra money in 2018. After realizing that my blog is earning a full-time income, I decided to quit my job! Now, I want to help you live life with a purpose, so come join me today!